vrijdag 29 november 2013

29th November, Mekorot and the sea of Gallilee, Gerbert Pleijter

29th November, Mekorot and the sea of Gallilee, Gerbert Pleijter

After the
first meeting with the Israeli students and university on Thursday, we met up
again on Fridayto visit Mekorot
National Water Carrier Project and the Sea of Galilee. In this way we would get
to know Israel’s drinking water company and end with some sightseeing.

From the
Technion in Haifa, we went to Mekorot in Eshkol Reservoir. This reservoir is an
important link in the National Water Carrier Project of Israel and holds purification
facilities. Origination from the Golan Heights, water accumulates in the Sea of
Galilee and is transported to the reservoir at Eshkol. At this site, the water
is purified using various fish species, flocculation and passive carbon
filters. It was impressive to see how a careful selection of fish species
results in a balanced purification system with minimum human or chemical
interference.

After
additional cleaning by flocculation and passive carbon filters the water is distributed
throughout the country. Besides the collection of runoff water, desalination is
another important method for the production of drinking water. Distribution of
this drinking water is executed using the Nation Water Carrier Project that
consists of hundreds of kilometres of pipelines and canals supplying drinking
water all over Israel, the Palestinian Territories and some neighbouring
countries.

After the
Eshkol Reservoir, we visited the Sea of Galilee, the Church of the Beatitudes
and the Jordan River. The Sea of Galilee is both a historic site and an
important piece in the National Water Carrier Project.The Church of the Beatitudes and the
baptizing location in the Jordan River were great to get familiar with parts of
Israel’s history. We would like to thank professor Avi Shaviv from Technion University and Matan Hadarie of Mekorot for their efforts and
enthusiasm during this day.

At the
evening we made ourselves a royal diner at our guesthouse and celebrated Giel
Hakman his birthday. Tomorrow is Sabbath, but we are looking forward to start
the Wetskills program in two days and work on the projects that were introduced
today.